Olympics provide bookmarks in our history

As the Summer Olympic Games resume on Wednesday evening, September 6, 1972, in Munich, Germany, Vasiliy Alekseyev of the Soviet Union wins the Olympic gold medal and sets a new Olympic record in the super heavyweight weightlifting, hefting 640 kilograms. (AP Photo)

Published: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 10:50 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 10:50 p.m.

McKay, because his job as host of the Games for ABC Sports seemed so cool. He appeared on top of everything, and his smooth delivery conveyed that exact impression.

To this day, his reporting on the deaths of Israeli athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Games remains a high point in electronic journalism.

Through the historical rewind power of YouTube, his final words, "They're all gone,'' still pack an emotional A-bomb. McKay was television before blond hair and celebrity news became de rigueur in the industry.

And Alekseyev, because what 10-year-old boy wouldn't be enthralled by a fat man in a singlet throwing 500 pounds over his head, the weight causing the bar to groan at both ends?

The only negative? Alekseyev wasn't American, but from the Soviet Union, and anyone 50 and older knows what that meant in the midst of the ongoing Cold War between the two mistrusting superpowers.

He was part of the enemy, hailing from a country that didn't smile, didn't laugh — or so we thought — and smugly believed it was superior to Uncle Sam in every way.

As the London Games prepare to start, that's the change I've noticed through the years. While still political in nature, the Olympics aren't defined anymore by idealogies or ways of life.

The Cold War is over. The red menace is no longer menacing. The lines separating the Good Guys from the Bad have been permanently erased, and with it, perhaps a portion of our national fervor.

A lot of us still watch, as evidenced by the record 211 million viewers reached by NBC Universal's 2008 Beijing Olympic coverage, but for others, their TV remote provides access to options in the hundreds.

Not so many years ago, ABC, NBC and CBS were the only choices, and changing the channel required the anachronistic task of getting up from the couch.

Those are the days of my youth. The Olympics, too.

A year associates everything. Too young to remember Bob Beamon taking flight in the 1968 Summer Games, or Jean-Claude Killy's mountain mastery in the Winter, I observe Munich 1972 as my Olympic christening.

There was American Dave Wottle, winning the 800-meter run wearing a golf cap; Frank Shorter's marathon victory that ignited the country's running craze; a Soviet pixie gymnast named Olga Korbut winning three gold medals.

Officials giving the Soviet basketball team three chances in the final seconds to defeat the United States, Doug Collins and teammates so irate, they refused their silver medals; the hooded Palestinian terrorists on a balcony in the Olympic village.

Four years later, in Montreal, 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci stealing the Games and hearts worldwide; American boxers, led by Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon and Michael Spinks, capturing five gold medals; Bruce Jenner, before plastic surgery and the plastic Kardashians, proudly waving the American flag after winning the decathlon.

<p>SARASOTA</p><p>Growing up, two names signified the Olympics.</p><p>Jim McKay.</p><p>Vasiliy Alekseyev.</p><p>McKay, because his job as host of the Games for ABC Sports seemed so cool. He appeared on top of everything, and his smooth delivery conveyed that exact impression.</p><p>To this day, his reporting on the deaths of Israeli athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Games remains a high point in electronic journalism.</p><p>Through the historical rewind power of YouTube, his final words, "They're all gone,'' still pack an emotional A-bomb. McKay was television before blond hair and celebrity news became de rigueur in the industry.</p><p>And Alekseyev, because what 10-year-old boy wouldn't be enthralled by a fat man in a singlet throwing 500 pounds over his head, the weight causing the bar to groan at both ends?</p><p>The only negative? Alekseyev wasn't American, but from the Soviet Union, and anyone 50 and older knows what that meant in the midst of the ongoing Cold War between the two mistrusting superpowers.</p><p>He was part of the enemy, hailing from a country that didn't smile, didn't laugh — or so we thought — and smugly believed it was superior to Uncle Sam in every way.</p><p>As the London Games prepare to start, that's the change I've noticed through the years. While still political in nature, the Olympics aren't defined anymore by idealogies or ways of life.</p><p>The Cold War is over. The red menace is no longer menacing. The lines separating the Good Guys from the Bad have been permanently erased, and with it, perhaps a portion of our national fervor.</p><p>A lot of us still watch, as evidenced by the record 211 million viewers reached by NBC Universal's 2008 Beijing Olympic coverage, but for others, their TV remote provides access to options in the hundreds.</p><p>Not so many years ago, ABC, NBC and CBS were the only choices, and changing the channel required the anachronistic task of getting up from the couch.</p><p>Those are the days of my youth. The Olympics, too.</p><p>A year associates everything. Too young to remember Bob Beamon taking flight in the 1968 Summer Games, or Jean-Claude Killy's mountain mastery in the Winter, I observe Munich 1972 as my Olympic christening.</p><p>There was American Dave Wottle, winning the 800-meter run wearing a golf cap; Frank Shorter's marathon victory that ignited the country's running craze; a Soviet pixie gymnast named Olga Korbut winning three gold medals.</p><p>Officials giving the Soviet basketball team three chances in the final seconds to defeat the United States, Doug Collins and teammates so irate, they refused their silver medals; the hooded Palestinian terrorists on a balcony in the Olympic village.</p><p>Four years later, in Montreal, 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci stealing the Games and hearts worldwide; American boxers, led by Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon and Michael Spinks, capturing five gold medals; Bruce Jenner, before plastic surgery and the plastic Kardashians, proudly waving the American flag after winning the decathlon.</p><p>Some of my Olympic memories.</p><p>Who will make them in London?</p><p>For that, you have to watch.</p>